Seasons of Change
by jibbsloversunited
Summary: Random AU Jibbs one shot. By VerityFrancesB


_Just random piece that came to me yesterday. Technically AU. _

_Hope you enjoy_

_VerityFrancesB_

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It started in late April, just as the leaves were budding, this feeling that his life was about to be inexplicably changed. But not knowing the reason for the feeling, he put it down to too little sleep, Stephanie leaving, muttering excuses and shouting curses over the phone to him. He found solace and drowned himself in misery standing in front of the twin stones, his family's names carved into the white marble. He didn't notice the red head watching him with sad eyes.

He met her first, saw her first, in May, the stranger with the green eyes and red hair, who had watched him. He saw her in the cemetery as he was mourning his family and for some reason he let her slip her hand into his, offering him strength that he had no idea he needed, and he had no idea why.

He saw her again in June, as the sun was once again beginning to heat up his skin. She smiled gently at him over the white stones and he was struck with the feeling that she was the reason for the heavy pitting in his stomach. He still didn't know her name, she didn't offer it, he didn't ask. Just two strangers drawing support and comfort when they needed it most.

He got her name in July, as the air was heating up, a summer storm looming on the horizon. She said it softly and it was one of the sweetest things he'd heard, apart from his little girls laugh. Thunder rolled above them and he hoped it wasn't a precursor of things to come.

He gave her his name in August, and she repeated it back, rolling it around her mouth which he couldn't take his eyes off. He didn't know what possessed him to suggest coffee but meeting in the cemetery seemed morbid to him. He smiled and his blue eyes shone when she said yes.

It was her eyes he couldn't stop looking at in September, sitting across from her. Her gentle laugh bounced around the room. Reaching every corner and opening up his closed off world. Men stared as she tossed her red hair over her shoulder but she only had eyes for him, blinking large green orbs over the rim of her coffee cup.

It wasn't until October that he worked up the courage to touched her again. Reaching out over another scarred plastic table, to tuck her hair behind her ear, fingers brushing against her pulse as she swallowed, mug frozen halfway to her mouth. She grinned then, and the world got that much brighter.

Early November bought the first frost. And their first argument. And their first kiss. He stood stoically as she paced back and forth, an angry tirade spilling from her lips. He wondered briefly why he wasn't listening to a word she said, until she tugged on his jacket and pulled him close. Then he realized it was because he was staring at her mouth again, and suddenly he knew why it had mesmerised him for six months.

December was cold, biting wind and heavy snow froze the ground, but it drew them closer, huddled together, their hands once again clasped around each others. The feel of her leather gloves against his skin wasn't quite enough. The fire crackled behind him when he wound his arms around her, her skin warming him almost down to his soul. That Christmas wasn't spent alone.

January was colder, bringing a myriad of excuses, each one more twisted than the last, driving them apart, pushing them both back to their own misery. She pleaded with big green eyes, wanting him to open up his wounds, his old scars that hadn't even healed yet. He turned away.

It was in February that he realized he had made a mistake, pushed light out off his life. He sought her out, finding her huddled around herself in the almost dark of the cemetery, staring without seeing at the words etched into the stone in front of her. It hadn't occurred to him to ask who she had been here to see, but his heart constricted when he read the words _Beloved Husband_, he knew the pain of a lost loved one. He drew her to him. It was her turn to push him away, with words and shaking hands. He caught them, pressed them to his chest and she shook her head, tugging her hands away and closing her self off from him.

She found him again in March. Her gentle footsteps sounded behind him, noise in the middle of the silence of the cemetery. He didn't turn, but squeezed her hand when it slipped into his. She ran her hand hand over the deep words of the marble, silently asking permission. A light breeze blew around them, swirling her fiery hair around her head, and he knew she had been granted it.

April came round again, the trees budding once more. He buried himself in her, seeking her warmth and hands traced scars, skin, every inch of exposed flesh. She arched like a cat under his ministrations. A tear slipped out of her eyes when he whispered to her, holding her against his chest in the darkness and safety and she knew she had made the right decision in offering him comfort a year ago. His hands in her hair told her she didn't have to be alone anymore.

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_V!_

_xox  
_


End file.
